With both most recent releases of BIAB 2021 (825 being the most recent), I notice a significant issue when using the woodshed increasing tempo feature.
I set up the following short loop (1 measure per chord): Am7/D7/Gm7/C7/Fmaj7. I set the initial tempo to 85, and the style to _JBSLBPD. This loop plays flawlessly. I set the woodshed tempo increment to 5. I then select the loop and "play and loop highlighted region". The playback loops and increases tempo as expected, but noise artifacts begin creeping in, resulting in a sound like a worn LP (remember those?) replete with pops and scratches. Selecting only a portion of the loop (D7/Gm7/C7) produces the same artifacts. Selecting a different style (_PROWL) also produces the same artifacts.
I find this very distracting while trying to work on tempo, which is one of my major uses for the software.
1: Did it work fine with the same Style and Chord Sequence in earlier versions (pre 2021)?
2: What happens if you choose an All MIDI Style, rather than RealTracks?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Professional & Windows 11, Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors
As a rule of thumb, BIAB works best in the tempo range of 10 bpm lower and 15 bpm higher than the recommended Realtrack tempo. I've found that Piano RTs often have less tolerance than this before noticeable artifacts creep in.
I've had a look at _JBSLBPD.STY and it uses RTs that play best at 85 bpm. Therefore the "rule of thumb" tempo range of this style is 75-100 bpm.
A couple of suggestions that might help...
1. Find a style that's in the 90-100 bpm range and then start that at 85 bpm and incrementally increase it. (90 bpm RTs should be reasonably suitable in the range 80 - 115 bpm)
2. Try a style with MIDI supertracks such as M_JBSBPD.STY. This has both RTs and MIDI (which ties in with Videotrack's question). This style eliminates the Piano RT which is probably the one that's causing greatest grievance as the tempo increases.
As to previous versions, I don't know; this is a new use of the tool for me, and I no longer have an older version installed, though I expect (see next answer) that this is not a new issue.
An all MIDI (in particular, EZDOESIT) seems to perform flawlessly, and using one such will solve my issue. I will also experiment with tempos per Noel's comment below; it could be I'm asking the real tracks to do things they simply can't do.
_STRIDES: solo piano runs pretty cleanly from 85 - 280 or so M_JBSBPD: minor artifacts start at around 95 (apparently on bass track) but don't get out of hand. The piano has no problems.
So I guess I'm just overtaxing the real tracks by trying to play them out of their normal tempo range. Good to know, and it shouldn't affect performance; I just need to accommodate that in my practice regimen.
RealDrums should keep up with any reasonable tempo. My experience with RealTracks is it not only depends on the instrument, but also the playing style, particularly how ‘busy’ the playing is.
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It appears that the stretching algorithm is 'stretching' beyond its capability. As mentioned, with RealTracks this range is not significant before unwanted artifacts start to appear. Glad you got it resolved.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Professional & Windows 11, Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors
Thanks. I wish I did too. But as it turns out I didn't. I set up a 32 bar song to play at 160bpm, with style _JBRF_B.STY, whose tempo is also 160. I am not using the woodshed increasing tempo here; the tune just plays at 160. Every instrument except the drums produces artifacts from the first bar forward. The result would not be usable in performance (if I'm ever permitted in public again), which is the goal. As before, a pure MIDI style (ZZJAZZ)plays without incident, but I do not want to be restricted to MIDI. The real tracks are a major reason I use BIAB, and without them the product loses much of its value for me.
I listened to that style demo song [_JBRF_B.STY] and noticed the individual RTs vary from 140 to 160 with a song tempo of 165 bpm. When they are all jammin at that speed I didn't hear to much objectionable in sound quality, but when I solo each, I was not at all impressed with the sound quality. What you may describe as an artifact sounds like mud to me. But that observation is aside from the fact that there are too many stabs and staccato playing for my ear. But I may attribute that to Bebop which jarred a lot of people in its time!
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We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
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